Bonjour, I’m Julie. On a mission to elevate quiet voices through play.
Julie is a game designer and play consultant who develops playable media at the service of social change. She builds on almost a decade of expertise managing teams and developing playful tools or experiences with nonprofit organizations, educators, and civic practitioners to bridge knowledge gaps between communities. She is the co-founder and creative mind behind WASA Games, a Montreal-based nonprofit that has developed and facilitated an award-winning cooperative city-building game across Canada, reaching 5,000+ people in 100+ schools and businesses between 2016-2023. After graduating with a Master of Science in Games from the IT University of Copenhagen in 2023, Julie has continued researching how to make safe and inclusive designs. Her current work involves the study of power dynamics to understand behaviours of gamesplaining and consent in gaming.
Academic Publications
(to be published) “Assigning Authority to the Dominant Player in Role-Playing Games”, in International Journal of Role-Playing, n.d.
“Playing by the Rules of the Dominant Player”, Proceedings of Playgrounds: DiGRA Conference, 2024.
“Drifting in the Trees: Creating Playgrounds with Recreational Urban Tree Climbing”, Proceedings of Playgrounds: DiGRA Conference, 2024.
Talks & Conferences
“Is This Gamesplaining? A Talk on Power Distribution in Collaborative Games”, PLAY24 Creative Gaming Festival, 16 November 2024, Germany (Online), 20 min.
“Playing by the Rules of the Dominant Player”, Playgrounds: DiGRA Conference, 1-5 July 2024, Mexico, 30 min.
“Drifting in the Trees: Creating Playgrounds with Recreational Urban Tree Climbing”, Playgrounds: DiGRA Conference, 1-5 July 2024, Mexico, 30 min.
“Drifting in The Trees”, Winter Games of IT University of Copenhagen, January 2023, Denmark, 10 min.
“Power in Play: Distribution and Validation of Authority in Gaming”, Thesis Presentation at IT University of Copenhagen, June 2023, Denmark, 60 min.
“Power in Play”, Summer Games of IT University of Copenhagen, September 2023, Denmark, 10 min.
“Play as an Educational and Mobilisation Tool”, Symposium of ENvironnement JEUnesse, 2018 & 2021, Montreal, 10 min.
“Story of a Young Woman Entrepreneur”, IFDD Symposium, 2018, Québec, 10 min.
Awards
“Most Emotional Game” for A Tree in Memory, at Nordic Game Jam 2020
Regional Award (CMM) for “Best Corporate Services Sector”, at OseEntreprendre 2018 (for WASA Games)
Gold medal for “Best Creative Sustainable Solution”, at Jeux de la Francophonie 2017. With Distinction from l’Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (for WASA Games)
